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Patrick out of town for release of CWLA report on DCF

BOSTON (MyFoxBoston.com) -- A report by the Child Welfare League of America is set to be released sometime next week, it appears, when Governor Deval Patrick is out of town.

On Monday, Patrick's schedule shows he leaves for the trade mission to Israel and the United Arab Emirates. He will be gone for 10 days. Patrick eventually asked the CWLA to investigate DCF after learning the embattled state agency had lost track of 5-year-old Jeremiah Oliver of Fitchburg. The child was found dead in April, by the side of a road in Sterling. His mother and her boyfriend are facing charges. Last month, Commissioner Olga Roche resigned after the deaths of two other children under DCF supervision.

Roche is staying on until August as a consultant. Patrick would not disclose what's in the CWLA report, but says he has been briefed on it. He denied it doesn't address the major failures that led to what happened in the Oliver case.

He tells FOX 25 Political Reporter Sharman Sacchetti, "The report will be out next week, and you can see it and read it and think about it and yes, I've been briefed on it and it does speak to the Oliver case."

When Sacchetti asked why he wouldn't release it on a Friday, Patrick responded, "My understanding is that the folks from CWLA want to be here when it is released, and they can't be here today. They will be early next week."

In March, Health and Human Services Secretary John Polanowicz announced CWLA had released a "progress report." It called for better technology and more staffing, many of the governor's recommendations. This week, the union representing social workers says caseloads are still on the rise and added staffing is not keeping pace with attrition. It wants another $9.9 million dollars more in the state budget to ease the caseload pressure.